On Dec. 6, 2024, the faculty of the University of Oregon’s School of Music and Dance passed an updated policy providing for stricter rules and administrative oversight for professors who choose to assign self-written textbooks and other class materials to their students.
The policy update follows an investigation by the Daily Emerald in October 2024, which revealed that Toby Koenigsberg, an associate professor in the SOMD, profited over $500,000 from thousands of students by requiring them to purchase his $89.99 self-published textbook, “Contemporary Songwriting,” in his asynchronous “Popular Songwriting” class.
The book was published under Koenigsberg’s own publishing company, “King and Hill Publishing,” meaning he collected all the profit from textbook sales.
Although already prohibited under UO ethics guidelines and Oregon state law before the updated ruling, a series of miscommunications and oversights by the SOMD and other UO administrators allowed Koenigsberg to profit for over four years.
The updated ruling reiterates that Oregon State Ethics Laws prohibit a public employee from “using their office for personal (or) financial gain.” Professors under the new rule will still be allowed to mandate their own works but cannot financially gain from the material in any way.
Professors can petition the Dean of the SOMD, Sabrina Madison-Cannon, to review the material, who can then permit profits. According to the ruling, this review process will prevent faculty from using their “official position for personal financial gain.”
The ruling also encourages faculty to refer to the American Association of University Professors guidelines on self-publication to avoid perceived or real conflicts of interest.
Some of the AAUP guidelines include offering the materials to students free of cost, placing texts in the UO course reserves for free access, making the material optional or submitting the material to the SOMD Faculty Advisory Committee for review of the cost.
The FAC review process considers things such as the publisher of the text, royalty rate on sales, author’s profits and competitors’ products, among others.
It remains unclear whether Koenigsberg ever has or will face disciplinary action for his profits.
According to class records, Koenigsberg is still employed at the university and is teaching the “Popular Songwriting” course to 50 students this term. He is no longer mandating the “Contemporary Songwriting” text, but instead requires a low-cost alternative textbook, “The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory”, published by a third party, costing under $20.
The Emerald reached out to Koenigsberg for comment, but has yet to receive a response.
